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They don’t worry about differentiating themselves from the competition or obsess about telling the right story. They tell the real story instead.
What do you stand for? Where are you headed and why? What’s been the making of you? What will make your career or company great?
Story Driven
We have become reactive to the competitive landscape, rather than responsive to the needs of our communities—those people we hope to serve. We are so focused on the competition, or even the threat of it, that we’ve forgotten to double down on what makes us and our work unique and valuable.
‘The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller.’
Stories create change.
We like to believe that change happens at the centre, that it begins at the seat of power. We’re wrong. All change happens at the edges. It starts with the first person who decides to expose a truth. In doing so, they rewrite the story.
Whether it’s articulated or not, every business is driven by one of two philosophies. A company is either competition-driven or story-driven.
In contrast, the story-driven company is responsive to customers and prioritises having a clear sense of purpose and identity. It makes little reference to the competition and is intent on creating an impact.
Story-driven companies have a positive impact on their customers and society. They thrive by making the connection between their purpose and prosperity. Their goal is to make a difference.
Great companies have something in common: they don’t try to matter by winning. They win by mattering.
Great companies rise to our expectations by being who they said they would be.
Differentiation happens when you authentically amplify the best of you—discovering how to be more of who you are, rather than finding ways to be a version of the competition.
An infinite game is played ‘for the purpose of continuing the play’.
We have created a culture where we’re not winning unless someone else is less-than or losing.
Moment to moment and day by day, we can deliberately choose to do only the things we’ll be proud to have done and to create the future we want to see. We start by deciding who we are—what philosophy and values will guide us and our companies—and
When we constantly pursue and prioritise ‘more’ above ‘meaning’, we take wrong turns, box ourselves in, self-sabotage or make unhelpful plans.
These mistakes happen when we haven’t done the groundwork of understanding our narrative—getting clear about why our business exists and what difference we’re here to create, for whom. We need a clear purpose and vision that help us to make stepwise progress to a thoughtfully chosen goal—one that isn’t simply represented by a dollar figure.
‘The critical question is not “How can I achieve?” but “What can I contribute?”’
While we’re busy with the tactical stuff, we often skip the important first step—of reflecting deeply about the reason our idea or project needs to exist and the change we’re trying to create.
we are more likely to make progress when we believe in the significance of what we’re doing.
Why you? Why this? Why now? Why for them? Why there? Why that way and not this? What’s your story and how will you stay true to it?
Payoff,
‘essential quality has to do with having a sense of purpose, value, and impact—of being involved in something bigger than the self’.
‘Story’ is defined as ‘a narrative, either true or fictitious, in prose or verse, designed to interest, amuse, or instruct the hearer or reader’.
Far from just being a way to differentiate us, our stories can help us to decide, plan, lead, sell, inspire, influence, persuade, rally, create value, build trust, foster connection and succeed by building better, more purposeful organisations and lives. Our stories can shape who we are.
When you know where you came from and where you’re going, decisions become easier. You know which clients are a good fit and which ones are not.
I can tell you that every business idea starts from a place of wanting to contribute something.
Sometimes we forget why we started, and in doing so we miss the opportunity to harness the power of our unique identity and our story.
Companies and ideas fail because of a lack of resonance with the people they seek to serve.
by setting out to find and tell the right story, we lose sight of the real story—the truth about who we are. We mistakenly assume that marketing is about adapting our story according to what most people want to hear. We go off in search of an angle that will attract the most attention today. As a result, we don’t devote enough time and resources to reflecting on how we can resonate with the right people—just as we are. We fail to harness the true potential of our narrative.
Pretending is exhausting. When we pretend, we not only miss the opportunity to deeply connect with the right audience in a way that gives us a sustainable advantage; more important, we’re left feeling as unfulfilled as they are disappointed.
Trust was implicit in every transaction.
Today we differentiate by doing.
Before you write a line of code or a word of copy, before you apply for that promotion or plan your growth strategy, and before you create your next marketing campaign or send that sales email, you need to understand what’s driving your story.
PURPOSE AND VISION—Where you’re going and why. STRATEGY—How you’re going to get there. TACTICS—What you do along the way.
Differentiation begins by showing, not just telling, and every action should serve the purpose of advancing us towards our goal. We make better decisions when we understand why we’re making them.
The Story-Driven Framework
The hardest part is not only working out the mission, vision and values that are the foundation of your business, but also intentionally living them so you can achieve your goals. You have to begin by getting clear about why your business exists. The very act of questioning your purpose forces you to dig deeper.
1. BACKSTORY: Your journey to now. 2. VALUES: Your guiding beliefs. 3. PURPOSE: Your reason to exist. 4. VISION: Your aspiration for the future. 5. STRATEGY: The alignment of opportunities, plans and behaviour: how you will deliver on your purpose and work towards your aspiration, while staying true to your values.
it’s easy to fall into the trap of skimming the surface of our story for the facts we believe will give us some tangible advantage. But if we want to give ourselves the best chance of spreading our ideas and creating an impact, we have to get better at telling our real story and living our purpose. We need to invest the time to reflect on why we began on this path and how our past informs our present and future.
Because now more than ever, our work, not just our job title, is part of our identity.
Building a Story-Driven Company
Every business is, by its nature, a catalyst for change. No business can exist without creating a ripple effect by affecting its employees, the place it calls home, the environment around it or the people it serves.
Great businesses are forces for good. They design products and services that people need and want. They create jobs that provide people with the dignity of meaningful work. They put food on tables and bring joy to communities. They add value to the economy in more ways than one. They don’t just give back. They give by the very virtue of their existence. They can be the making of moments in our days, meaning in our weeks and prosperity in our futures.
Your metric for success is a choice. How you apologise is a choice.
prioritising customer care
empowering staff—all
‘Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.’ Consistently being true to yourself and true to your word is one of the secrets to living a good life.
Marketing should magnify the truth, not manipulate a message. Our job isn’t to get everyone to believe us. It’s to give the right people something to believe in.
